THE son of Titanic’s oldest survivor came to Coventry to share his mother’s harrowing tale of survival on the maiden voyage.

Edith Brown was just 15 when she sailed on the Titanic as a second-class passenger with her mum and dad.

Before her death in 1997 at the age of 101, she told her 10 children about the tragic sinking of the legendary vessel, which struck an iceberg 400 miles off Newfoundland, Canada, on April 14 1912.

Her youngest son David Haisman, aged 73, spoke about his mum’s experience on the Titanic at Blue Coat CE School, in Terry Road, Stoke, yesterday – the first of a five-month programme of talks and theatrical events at the school to mark 100 years since the demise of RMS Titanic.

The commemorative events have been organised by city-based charity Titanic Heritage Trust to remember those who perished and ensure British achievement is preserved for future generations.

David himself served in the Merchant Navy and worked as look-out on ice fields across the North Atlantic.

The great-grandad said: “My mum was really taken by the opulence of the ship and she loved the food of course.

“When the ship struck the iceberg my mum and her mum were in the cabin.

"My grandfather was in the smoking room with Rev Ernest Carter.

“My mum felt several bumps and vibrations around the cabin. They felt the engines going at the time of the impact.

“They put their life-jackets on – my grandmother was a little bit nervous. They met up with my grandfather and went up several flights of stairs.

“Rev Carter’s wife Lillian was luckily allocated to a lifeboat. But when the lists came out revealing all of the survivors her name wasn’t on it. My mum believed she got out of the boat and back on the ship to be with her husband.

“When my mum and grandmother were on the boat they were screaming to my grandfather to look for another boat. He never took his gaze off them. He knew he was going nowhere that night.

“She could hear the screams and cries for help as the ship went down. She said she would never forget it.

"My mum told me how people were throwing stuff overboard to use as floats so it was important for them to get away from the ship side quickly.

“In the morning she thought she could see blocks of ice around the boat but they were bodies.

“They made their way to New York and were looking for my grandfather in hospitals but he wasn’t there – he had drowned.”